King of Hundred Victories Saber

The cold wind swept through as the smoke slowly dissipated.

Shi Feiyang stood firmly in the pool of blood, holding the unconscious Guo Xiangyu. Drops of fresh blood trickled from the Celestial Frost Blade onto the snow, staining the white with a shocking red. The northwest wind carried ice crystals like countless cold blades, weaving an impenetrable web of death across the snowy plains.

Shi Feiyang held Guo Xiangyu securely behind him, pushing the Twelve-Layered Bright Jade Technique to its peak. His whole body surged with icy blue True Qi, sketching the outline of a war god carved from ice in the night sky.

The Celestial Frost Blade was raised high above his head, the blade emanating cold glints. It was the ultimate strike of the ”Hundred Victories Saber Technique,” poised to unleash ”Heaven and Earth With Eternal Life.”

”Boom!” At the moment when the icy blue blade light clashed with the massive silver blade, the air within ten miles was instantly torn apart.

The dazzling light was like a falling sun, blinding everyone, and the earth-shattering boom caused layers of the snowy plains to collapse, sending powdery snow rising into the sky.

The ice beneath Shi Feiyang’s feet cracked inch by inch, yet he stood like a rock, resisting this earth-shattering blow.

As the light receded, Elder Xuanming was covered in blood, his white hair plastered to his face with blood clots, and the bone flute in his hand was riddled with cracks.

He stumbled forward a half-step, emitting a desperate roar from his throat: ”Princess Wuyue! Will you really forsake the legacy of your ancestors? The clan has searched for you for ten years, exhausting seventy-two secret realms’ spiritual qi, and is it really all for nothing compared to this Jianghu brute?”

Guo Xiangyu nestled tightly in Shi Feiyang’s embrace, her fingertips digging deep into his bloodstained black robe.

She lifted her head, her eyes filled with tears yet glowing with unwavering determination: ”Elder Xuanming, after hearing the demon music in Cold Jade Palace for ten years, only his heartbeat brings me the warmth of life. Here is my true home.”

Shi Feiyang gripped the Celestial Frost Blade tightly, and the coagulated droplets of blood on the blade dripped along the pattern, blooming crimson plums on the snow: ”If you want to step over my dead body, you must first ask this sword of mine!”

Before his voice fell, the surrounding air suddenly thickened like glue. It was the Wuyue Clan’s ”Silver Moon Heaven-Trapping Array” silently taking shape.

The night was almost over, and the desert wind, carrying sand and gravel, wailed across the desolate plains like ghostly cries.

Suddenly, a golden bell sounded from the nine heavens, as over a thousand Silver Moon Discs spun in the night sky, forming a brilliant river of stars. Guo Xiangyu’s grandmother approached, stepping across the moon, a red cinnabar mole on her brow resembling dripped blood, and the pressure emanating from her body instantly froze the snow within a hundred feet into sharp ice spikes.

Elder Xuanming staggered forward, raising the bloodstained bone flute above his head, as an ancient Dancing Moon Token glowed with a ghostly blue light under the moonlight, with runes swirling as if countless vengeful spirits were wailing.

Guo Xiangyu looked at the bloodstains on Shi Feiyang’s black robe, those dark red marks coiling around her heart like venomous snakes. Her fingertips trembled as she took the token, the icy touch spreading from her palm to her marrow, clutching the destiny of the clan through the ages.

”Thud!” She suddenly kneeled down, her forehead striking the ground covered with fragments of rocks, raising a large cloud of dust: ”I, Xiangyu, am willing to inherit the master’s position but beg grandmother and elders to spare my husband!” Her piercing voice cut through the cold wind, startling the distant crows.

”Xiangyu!” Shi Feiyang’s form swayed, and even the body protected by the Bright Jade Technique was somewhat unstable.

He rushed forward to hug her trembling body tightly, his hand brushing her hair cascading down, the touch as cold as ice: ”You don’t have to do this! Even if it means fighting to the last man, I, Shi Feiyang, will keep you safe!”

Guo Xiangyu raised her face, with tears crystallized against her pale skin, resembling a rain-drenched pear blossom.

She stood on tiptoe, her trembling lips kissing the blood beads at the corner of his eyes, their salty taste spreading across her tongue: ”Do you remember, ’To hold your hand and grow old together’? Being your wife for a year is already a blessing from the heavens. The Wuyue Clan is fully mobilized, the Heroic Sakura Association has five hundred thousand disciples... I can’t let them die because of me.”

Shi Feiyang felt as if his heart was pierced by countless arrows, a bitter taste rising in his throat: ”No! I want nothing of righteousness if I can’t have you!”

He held her tightly, yet he felt her body gradually turning cold.

Guo Xiangyu’s grandmother slowly approached, with the Silver Moon Disc spinning behind her, forming a vortex of death: ”Xiangyu, do you know the cost of betraying the clan?”

Before she could finish, Shi Feiyang had already drawn the Celestial Frost Blade across his chest, icy blue True Qi surging once more: ”If you want her life, you’ll have to pass me first!”

The cold wind howled, and battle clouds gathered.

The north wind whipped up sand and gravel, swirling around them like thousands of steel needles.

Shi Feiyang felt an ancient block of ice stuck in his throat, and even though the True Qi of the Bright Jade Technique surged through his meridians, it couldn’t melt the bone-chilling cold in his heart.

His trembling hand brushed over Guo Xiangyu’s long hair like a waterfall, every strand seemed entwined around his heart, and he whispered softly: ”When you rebuild Wuyue, I will break through the desert to bring you home. From then on, no more separation on the road of Jianghu.”

He spoke and slowly unsheathed the Celestial Frost Blade. The icy blue blade gleamed with their overlapping reflections, like a tragic and beautiful painting about to shatter.

The red ribbon on the hilt, originally tied by Guo Xiangyu, was now soaked in blood, its scarlet color piercingly vivid, speaking of the unpredictability of fate.

Shi Feiyang’s tears fell like rain, his choked voice almost breaking: ”This sword I give to my wife, let it slay any scoundrel! As long as the sword is here, I am here; if the sword is gone, I will follow you!”

Guo Xiangyu’s fingertip trembled as she gripped the cold hilt, her tears landing on the blade, instantly freezing into tiny ice crystals.

She pressed her cheek against the blade, as if to retain the warmth of his palm, and her voice was full of attachment and worry: ”Feiyang, I will treat this sword like my life. But you must also promise me not to take risks alone. The brothers of the Heroic Sakura Association hope you will lead them to uphold justice; there are still too many injustices in this world waiting for you to set right.”

”Xiangyu!” Shi Feiyang suddenly embraced her tightly, as if to merge her into his bones and blood, ”Do you know that I, Shi Feiyang, have roamed Jianghu for years, fearing nothing under heaven or earth, but losing you is my life’s greatest fear. Without you by my side, even if I conquer Jianghu, what meaning would it hold?”

Guo Xiangyu gently shook her head in his embrace, her tears soaking his collar: ”Precisely because I know your aspirations, I cannot become your burden. The mission of the Wuyue Clan, I must bear; your path should also continue. When all is settled, we will surely meet again.”

At this moment, dawn was breaking, and the desolate plains echoed with the mournful yet urging sound of camel bells, as if hastening this parting.

Guo Xiangyu slowly pushed away from Shi Feiyang, her eyes full of reluctance but determination: ”It’s time to go.”

She boarded the intricately carved camel carriage, looking back as Shi Feiyang’s figure grew smaller in the dim morning light, his black robe flapping in the wind like a solitary flag, yet so resolute.

The Celestial Frost Blade against her chest seemed to retain the warmth of his palm from the previous night, granting her endless courage and strength.

And Shi Feiyang stood atop the city wall, the empty scabbard at his waist swaying with the wind, tapping against his empty heart.

He gazed at the disappearing camel procession on the horizon, his voice low yet firm: ”Xiangyu, wait for me. I will find you again, wherever you are!”

The cold wind lifted the fallen leaves on the ground, scattering his vow into the sky. Only the crescent moon witnessed the lovers’ separation and wait, and, in the Jianghu, this unforgettable love will never fade away with time.